I think both Martinez and this squad have a lot to learn about how to close out a season and that is what has let us down. We have gone off the boil in recent games and have not had enough of the mental toughness or confidence required to win the games you need to win when it counts at this end of the season. Also, Martinez has not always gotten his tactics right with these players in recent games.

However, it is still the first season for a new manager, with a new approach and a new squad of players to work with. Martinez, his backroom staff and this squad have a huge chance in the summer to sit down and learn from this season. You would both hope and expect that confidence, psychology, and tactics will improve next season.

Your morning after reports are usually delivered with such accuracy and fairness, I’m guessing you probably give yourself a cooling of period to digest and relect on the game before you start typing.
My Sunday morning ritual now goes ; coffee, toast, LL’s report . . But all season long I have found myself disagreeing with you as to what constitutes a good season.

Yes we have an impressive points haul, but look at the bottom half of the table? There are still nine clubs struggling to get to the magical 40. This Newcastle side could have been relegated in the past, yet they’ve been safe since before Chrimbo. Spurs and United have been woeful. . Have points ever been easier to come by in the EPL?

Yes some of our football has been fantastic, but some of it has been very poor too, desperately so.

Sorry, but I don’t see how finishing fifth can be considered a fantastic season, especially when we were 4th with a handfull of games to go.

Unless the gunners want to give us another bite at the
cherry, we’ve surely got to accept that we have squandered a wonderful opportunity ?

I’m sure that before the season started others like myself would have been happy with a finish of somewhere around 6th or 8th with the team showing signs of progressing under the new managers aims and philosophy.

I agree with your comments that on the whole this season standards have dropped on the whole and like you say most of the season as many as half the teams have been fighting relegation.

However, our new manager has seen to it that despite the major changes introduced we have not regressed in any way and has managed to not to just keep hanging on to the coat tails of the 6 so called Big Clubs but actually challenging for a Champions League place.

That though now unlikely, it is still mathematically possible as is the chance we may finish 7th. If we do end up finishing 6th or 7th I will be as disappointed as any give the last few weeks, however that doesn’t stop me recognising the magnificent job done by Roberto and the team overall and as far as I am concerned given the circumstances before the season began this has been a very good season for us.

Yesterday was a bad day at the office but it did nothing to shake the view held by many that when it comes to the crunch that the team don’t deliver.

Expect at least 3 points out of the last two games which bring our total up to 72 and fifth place. Then Mr Kenwright and the rest of the Board its over to you!

However, the most interesting point for me over recent weeks has been the sense of fear at the possibility of getting fourth. I have felt this from the fans even before some games and have sensed it from the players but not the Manager.

This is our, Fans and Players, major issue during the summer. In the pub before the Place game many, in fact most, fans were seriously worried. Someone said to me "they’ve won 3 on the run". When I said we’d won 7 they looked at me strangely. Didn’t feel or hear anything so negative before the Arsenal game or the ManU game. Yet again the negativity on Saturday was obvious and clear.

I have suggested that we have over the past 11 years been brainwashed to accepting our underdog and "nearly team" tags and should be grateful, almost humble, to even finish in the top 10.

I cannot stand that Uriah Heepish concept.We have to break out of that mindset. Its like The Mancurian Candidate - - we get near 4th or winning a trophy and we panic.

I wonder if at Palace especially that fear was felt by the players.

I feel the same about Liverpool The City sometimes - - "the greatest city in d weerld" and yet when we gained Capital of Culture status we just bought in. We didn’t trust ourselves. Same with the "Giants" crap. Anyone explain the link with giant puppets and WW1.

So Martinez has to buy some players in the summer but he also, in my opinion, has to do a mind job on any of the old guard.

I simply cannot explain such a drop in form from last week to yesterday. Not just one or two players but people like Baines and Coleman and Mc Carthy and Barry. I normally do not call players names and will not here but Lukaku hasn’t kicked a ball in any positive way in any game since Arsenal.

Still, though, got my 2014/15 Season Ticket and will spend the summer meditating and developing my already very posso waves.

Up The Blues.

Several suggestions have been made that we should cash in on the youngster to secure the Belgian’s permanent signature. No, no, no, I say.

Anything more than a £15M punt on Romelo will be just that and if Ross is to be sacrificed in the cause of providing a transfer kitty, the money needs to be spent more wisely than that.

Personally, I’d prefer Roberto to ’come up trumps’ with another goalscorer altogether, and see ’our kid’ deployed just behind him.

Somehow I suspect I’m whistling in the wind !

We have been much better than spurs and united but unfortunately not so as to the four above us. Irrespective, the last couple of seasons have proven decent opportunities to break the 4 with the usual suspects arguably being at their weekest for many a year but who’s to say the opportunity won’t arise again next season such is the modern unpredictability of the Premier League!?

Maintain the core, strengthen well, phase transition and there is every chance we could have more realistic crack at it next season! Money will of course be the argument but with a bit to spend and really only being 3 to 4 top players off of a very very good side then that is our advantage over the others already there so to speak. We punch strongest at the same weight, that is our forte.

On a player note, we need to steer well clear of Lukaku! His demeanour and attitude stinks of player just in it for himself. You know he’s sat at home this morning, instead of gutted at yesterday’s loss like the rest of us taking a look at europe weighing up who’s qualifying for the champions league for next season!

Yes the lad is still young, and is arguably a raw talent but he’s just not what we need right now. Give me Remy or Hernandez any day over him and if I see any more bleeding glove pointing I may lose the plot! Are the Belgium national side going to wear gloves at the world cup!? It does make me laugh, and just how I’d like to see Lukaku....pointless!

Think a plus point we have over Spurs is we have got a far superior goal difference.

Most would agree pretty is better !

The one question I would ask fellow posters is why do you think that early season Barkley,Lukaku and Deulofeu were at their very best, yet in the latter stages all three seem to have gone backwards. I suppose it could be that all 3 are playing what is in effect their first full season in the Premiership, and maybe being young it takes its toll. I think Stones on the other hand has just got better and better as the season progressed, so much so that he must have a realistic chance of going to Brazil. Maybe the fact that he has the experience of playing regularly in the Championship for Barnsley is why he has coped better than the other 3.

Maybe it’s the invisible hand of God telling us we are still not ready for Champion’s league.

Remember what happened to us when we last qualified for Champion’s league?

We were nearly relegated.

Thank God for Phil Neville who kicked a few asses and drove us all the way to tenth.

Seriously if I had been told we would finish 5th last August I would have looked forward to the season. The reality is we always want more and yesterday is hard to take for many reasons.

We started badly and that set the tone, we seemed scared to attack as we were so vulnerable at the back. Lulu couldn’t trap a bag of cement, Barkley looked lost and the rest seemed to wander aimlessly.

Need 3 points to secure 5th now, 6 points would be good and pray the Arse slip up (lots).
For me beating Chelski, Manure, Arse at home are good memories but I am still left with ’what If’s’ despite our highest PL points tally.

Hope Kone proves me totally wrong and scores for fun when he returns and Barkley is given a compass very soon.

The game was really frustrating as Deulofeu was taken off just as he seemed to be understanding passing might help. Our midfield were too far back so spent a large chunk punting the ball up to Naismith. While it worked against Arsenal, Lukaku is most definitely not a winger. I would rather have seen him spearheading attack, with Naismith behind and Osman on the right - who would have supplied the same little cover for Coleman. All we seemed to do was switch wings a number of times.

Some really poor performances including Baines and the manager himself.

It may or may not have resulted in a goal and a different result which Everton barely deserved but it would have been nice to have the chance at least.

I’m really sick of people defending incompetent officials. Dowd has just given one of the strangest decisions I think I have ever seen but the Sky team says he was correct and so I bow to their superior knowledge.

Yes you could say its all but more or less ended with a tinge of disappointment, but to be in that position in the first place is progress. Also a lot of posts bemoaning the fact of our players not having the composure, balls, belief etc to jump the final hurdle. Yet the same posters not believing we can now finish higher than 7th. Even though we have won 8 of our last 10.

The football gods have been good to us on a whole in the past 12 months, so let’s not give up on Newcastle tomorrow just yet!

Later in the game the Southampton wing man skipped over the legs of Coleman I think, and was able to play on. Osman on memory kicked the ball out of play before taking the hit.

In the race for 4th against Palace and Southampton, we had some lads saying we couldn’t handle the pressure, we froze, and we bottled it.

In the games against Arsenal (who we twatted) and the Manc’s (we won at a canter), we were still fighting for 4th, but never bottled it in those games... so what’s the difference between the games against Arsenal and the Manc’s, and Palace and Southampton that has fans saying we bottled it?

What happened after the two goals was worse for me. There was a complete flatness and lack of energy throughout the team. Everyone was looking for a leader out there, no-one wanted to be that leader.

As I said during the previous regime, I don’t regard a trophyless season finishing 5th/6th/7th as ’successful.’ For me, finishing top 6 is satisfactory. I’m pleased we’re passing the ball more, even more pleased that we’ve started to do it more quickly of late.

I’m not pleased with our woeful corners at either end, our inability to cope with going a goal down and Martinez’s idea of spending the first 10 mins settling into the game. Stuff that, I’d rather take a leaf out of Liverpool’s book and steam into the opposition from the off, particularly as we need to get in front to control a game.

The main thing for me is that we’re playing with method, which will make it easier to improve and integrate new players/youngsters into the team.

This summer will be interesting. He’s had a year, he knows the strengths of the existing players, he (presumably) knows his budget and hopefully knows what we need. One thing’s for sure, we won’t be underestimated this time, so I can’t see any loans from PL clubs. I’d like a keeper, commanding, footballing centre-back, hard bastard/leader/playmaker in midfield and at least one good striker. By good I mean interested in every game, can control a ball, never stops trying, rarely stops scoring.

Over to you Messrs Martinez and Kenwright!

RM's stewardship has brought hope for next season even as hopes for UCL is fizzling out. I've spoken out against the rapid increase in expectations before that Mike (@10) mentioned and I think we're at the point of reassessing that expectation. I hope many do realize that other than RM, not much else changed. Yes, we got a few players to fit his philosophy, yes, the style changed, but our income flow has not varied significantly. Unless BK changes his tune about investing money in the squad among other things (like something as simple as just trying to get a better deal than Chang), RM is still a bit hamstrung. However, that does not change the positive outlook I have that we will achieve greatness under RM's stewardship. Of course, fingers crossed that RM doesn't lose our defensive identity for the sake of a pure possession-attacking philosophy. COYB!

As a blue supporter for 30 years or so, I feel we have far more to be upbeat about:

1) RM will attract better players who will want to play possession style;
2) Europa League is perfect for RM and the team to gain European experience;
3) It's been a great first year for RM;
4) Highest PL points tally;
5) No top team hang-ups, beating Man Utd, Chelsea & Arsenal.

Oh – and RS may have blown the title!

So come on, guys – let's be positive and look forward to a positive future.